Brown student describes hours-long lockdown during deadly campus shooting
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A senior at Brown University said he spent the night helping his classmates evacuate after losing a close friend in a shooting at his school that killed two people and injured nine others.
Ben Marcus told “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Sunday that he was celebrating Shabbat at Brown’s Hillel, the center of Jewish life on campus, when the building’s security guard burst in with an urgent warning.
“None of us were paying attention to our phones. The security guard of the Hillel building immediately took action and said, ‘Everyone is upstairs, the situation is really serious. There is a shooter,'” Marcus said.
WHILE VIOLENCE IS SHARING AT BROWN UNIVERSITY, THE ELITE IVY LEAGUE CAMPUS IS FACED BY MASS SHOOTING
A police vehicle stops at an intersection near crime scene tape at Brown University in Providence, RI, on December 14, 2025, following a shooting at the university the previous day. (Steven Senne/AP Photo)
He talked about housing for about seven hours with about 30 students and praised both Hillel and university staff for keeping students safe and informed.
PERSON DETAINED AFTER THE FATAL SHOOTING AT BROWN UNIVERSITY
Still, students remain fearful and confused after the tragedy halted final exams.
“There were finals yesterday, finals all week, and the students were terrified,” Marcus said.
Emergency personnel gathered on Waterman Street at Brown University in Providence, RI, on Saturday during a shooting investigation. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
One of the victims, whose name has not yet been released, was a close friend of Marcus.
“I actually lost a very close friend of mine… I don’t think his name has been made public yet,” he said. “But he was a really special person… he was really great at creating dialogue and interfaith activities, and we’re really going to miss him.”
Marcus also noted how easy it was to get into some buildings on campus. Many remain unlocked during class hours, he said, “and it’s quite common for the building, especially the engineering building, to be propped open with a chair, even when it’s supposed to be locked.”
AUSTRALIAN AUTHORITIES: BONDI BEACH SHOOTINGS WERE ‘TERRORISM… DESIGNED TO TARGETE SYDNEY’S JEWISH COMMUNITY’
A person of interest is in custody following the deadly shooting, police said Sunday. Police told Fox News the man was found at a hotel in Coventry, about 17 miles south of Providence.
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION
Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr. declined to say whether the person had ties to Brown University when asked by reporters at a news conference, citing the early stages of the investigation.
Former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) special agent Bernard Zapor discussed the latest developments in the investigation during “Fox & Friends Weekend” and warned that the shooter was “unscrupulous” when he decided to open fire on the school.
“Make no mistake,” he said. “Anyone who makes the decision to go in and take human life on a mass scale, or any scale, is really acting without conscience. So the normal things that we expect from a human being are not present.”
Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan and Bryan Llenas contributed to this report.
